Now I’m starting to wonder. All the BS that’s happened with online poker. The sites that have fallen by the wayside. The governments around the world all jumping on the legalize-and-tax-to-death bandwagon – except the US, of course.

Hollywood Poker is gone, all their players transferred over to RedKings; the players knew nothing of it in advance. See ya Vince Van Patten and James Woods. Although they weren’t playing anyway after the UIGEA went into effect.

There’s no safe haven for a US player anyway.

The WSOP seems to be down on attendance. That’s always a bad sign. Las Vegas does steam and snort during the WSOP every year as a zillion or so hopefuls come in to shoot for the gold and the cash…at this point I believe a lot of it’s the cash. Yah, everyone wants a bracelet, but that cash comes in mighty handy for getting through daily living.

I have thoughts about where the road of life is taking poker. It’s changed so much since the card throwing, cursing degens used to control the management and the scope of the world’s jaded view on poker. First we had $10K buy-in tournaments, and now we have a standard $50K Poker Players Championship at the WSOP and the first time ever $1,000,000 buy-in.

Where are those big buy-ins taking us? Not me, ‘you’ is what I should have asked. I will never have the money to play a $1,000,000 tournament and if I did, I wouldn’t play it, I’d rathole my million.

But let’s kick that $1M buy-in around a little bit. Some of the players that are confirmed to play did not have a million to throw down for a seat (one that they could afford to lose anyway) so they pieced themselves out. That means that a number of players that aren’t playing the event have a decent piece of their own bankroll tied up in the Big One for One Drop $1,000,000 buy-in charity tournament that will take place on July 1st.

If it caps out at 48 players, the winner would take home over $18,000,000.

So…have you ever played where there’s a bad beat jackpot? When some lucky player wins a $40,000 or so jackpot, you don’t believe they are going to turn around and run it through the poker games do you? It’s out of play, usually for life since it’s that ‘life changing money’ that factors in paid off mortgages, buying a car, and all those things you normally can’t afford. That money is gone.

OK, what happens if David Einhorn wins it? All of it is gone, gone, gone. He’s already stated his charity.

Or one of the amateurs wins it? It’s gone, gone, gone. They won’t race down to Bobby’s Room at Bellagio or Phil Ivey’s Room at Aria and ‘spread the wealth.’

So if a pro doesn’t win it, all those pieced out pieces of a player’s lifeline will be gone. Sure, one can think the player buying a piece wouldn’t overextend what he could afford, but that’s a lot of pieces that can have a big effect on the poker economy.

I’m holding out for a hero, one that is very good for poker.